LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


^^       ^^       ^^ 

This  is  an  authorized  facsimile  of  the  original  book,  and  was 
produced  in  1968  by  microfilm-xerography  by  University 
Microfilms,  A  Xerox  Company,  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  U.S.A. 

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y 


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*K. 


ADDRESS 


TO 


KING  COTTON 


£ 

EUGENE    PELLETAN 

Author  of  several  Works  on  America. 


v     TRANSLATED  BY 

LBA.NTDER    STA.RR. 


NIC. 


'.FTJBT.I  SHED 

BY  H,  DE  MAREIL,  EDITOR  OF  THE  MESSAGER  FRANCO  -AMERICAN 

51,  LIBERTY  STREET,  NEW  IOKK. 
1863 

LIBRARY 

^JmVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


m  -;;  ; 


6  COTTON. 


SIRS: 

Tor  nave  committed  a  wrong  act.  It  is  not  everything  to  be  a 
king,  even  with  only  a  bale  for  a  throne  :  one  must  also  be  faithful  to  the 
Constitution.  I  talk  to  you  without  flattery,  and  as  I  have  broached  the 
subject,  I  shall  go  to  the  end  of  the  reel.  But  first  let  me  throw  a  retrospec 
tive  glance  at  the  past. 

If  in  the  IGth  century,  at  the  time  when  Thomas  Morus  wrote  his  Utopia 

but  this  is  going  too  far  back.  Suppose  in  the  17th  century,  while 
Feiielon  was  elaborating  his  kingdom  of  Salente,  a  seer  had  spoken  to 
this  effect :  "I  have  found  a  telescope  that  plunges  into  time  as  the  other 
fathoms  space  I  But  my  glass  shows  me  something  still-  more  marvellous 
than  the  Utopia  of  Morus,  or  the  Salente  of  the  archbishop  of  Cambrai. 

Beyond  the  setting  sun,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  I  see  a  tract  of 
continent  twenty  times  as  large  as  France,  with  two  sides  on  two  oceans, 
the  one  looking  toward  Europe,  the  other  toward  Asia.  One  might  deem  it 
the  middle  of  the  world,  the  central  empire.  At  the  first  glance  it 
seems  an  uncouth  territory,  overgrown  with  jungles  and  sub 
merged  by  swamps.  Some  sixty  rivers,  nameless  as  yet,  iiow  at  random, 
barring  one's  path  in  all  directions.  There  are  no  inhabitants  but  the  wolf 
.md  the  bison,  save  here  and  there  a  m;in  if  we  may  thus  call  carnivorous 
creatures,  who  after  six  thousand  years  of  reflection  have  been  unable  to 
acquire  any  other  talent  than  that  of  lighting  a  fire  at  night  by  which  to 
cook  their  food. 

And  yet  this  chaotic  soil,  rude  as  the  deluge  left  it,  will  be  chosen  by  good 
men,  banished  from  England  on  account  of  a  dubious  point  of  biblical  inter 
pretation,  as  an  asylum  for  themselves,  their  wives  and  children,  so  ••  that 
they  may  have  a  right  to  interpret  the  Bible  in  their  own  way. 

How  many  will  they  number  1  A  mere  handful  of  men,  barely  a  boat 
load.  They  will  sing  a  psalm  upon  landing  in  this  new  hemisphere  and 
then  with  a  piouy  glance  at  the  snow-covered  soil,  they  will  take  up  the 
pickax. 

They  will  have  but  one  ambition  ;  prayer  and  labor — prayer  in  order  to 
gain  the  life  to  come  and  labor  to  gain  time  for  prayer.  After  clearing  the 
seabord  they  will  bravely  attack  the  barriers  of  the  untrodden  forest  ;  they 
will  deliver  the  soil,  buried  and  imprisoned  beneath  a  night  of  verdure  ;  they 
will  show  it  openly  to  heaven  and  heaven  will  let  its  dews  and  har 
vests  descend  upon  it. 

Forward,  ever  advancing,  go  ahead,  will  be  the  motto  of  this  heroic  race. 


This  ragged  land  conceals  the  germ  of  kindly  usefulness. .  It  awaits  but  a 
word  from  man  to  pass  into  a  state  of  civilization.  There  are  immense  lakes, 
or  rather  seas,  destined  to  create  a  coasting  trade  ;  and  the  sixty  rivers,  al 
though  obstacles  at  the  outset,  will  become  later  great  highways,  binding 
together  the  various  centres  of  population.  And  at  last  the  great  Missis 
sippi,  the  "father  of  waters,"  will  draw  all  these  navigable  streams  in  his 
course  of  a  thousand  leagues  and  boar  them  along  in  triumph  with  their 
fleets  to  tho  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

And  they  will  advance  ever  and  ever  westward,  (for  civilization  follows 
the  course  of  the  sun,)  and  wherever  they  go  they  will  find  the  same  climate 
us  in  England  ;  the  same  winter  and  tho  samo  summer.  They  may  believe 
it' they  will,  that  they  have  brought  the  seasons  of  Europe  with  them,  sewn 
in  the  folds  of  their  cloaks.  They  will  bo  able  to  curry  to  their  new  homo 
tho  productions  of  the  old  country;  their  wheat  and  hemp;  their  gardens  and 
orchard*.  They  will  be  able  to  carry  with  them  the  companions  of  t?ieir  early 
life,— the  ox,  the  horse,  the  dog,  the  sheep,  &c.  Men  and  flocks  will' land  in 
families,  and  after  a  voyage  of  fifteen  hundred  leagues,  they  will  seem  to 
have  passed  to  the  other  shore  of  their  own  country. 


II. 

t 

But  a  day  will  come  when  this  colony,  scarcely  a  century  old,  born  of 
labor  and  multiplied  by  labor,  will  wish  to  rise  and  rank  us  a  nation,  and 
manage  its  own  household.  Then  it  will  have  to  struggle  desperately  with 
the  mother-country,  the  lirst  maritime  power,  and  perhaps  also  the  first 
military  power  of  Europe.  But  North  America  will  have  confidence  in  her 
destiny.  An  inward  voice  will  say  to  her  :  "  Do  what  you  fear  to  do  !  Af 
ter  the  strife  with  nature,  conies  the  strife  with  England.  This  will  only 
be  changing  the  battlefield,  and  America  will  win  the  day.  She  will  force 
England  to  sign  the  certificate  of  birth  of  the  United  States,  and  on  the  mor 
row  the  Atlantic  will  bear  for  the  first  time  a  flag  with  but  thirteen  stars 
us  yet." 

I  do  not  know  how  or  by  what  secret  instinct  more  powerful  than  reflection 
the  American  republic  will  find  tho  most  perfect  form  of  government  to  oc 
cupy  and  rule  halt  a  continent  ;  but  it  will  be  found,  whether  at  the  first 
or  tho  second  trial  it  matters  little.  Man,  master  of  himself  in  everything 
concerning  the  individual  ;  a  common  independence  in  all  his  acts  regarding 
his  religious  existence  ;  corporate  sovereignty  in  everything  of  interest  to 
the  people  constituted  as  a  state  ;  and  lastly  the  'j«>!iiV»iWney  as  the  supreme 
umpire  in  all  matters  in  which  the  states  are  jointly  interested,  this  i«  the 
American  Constitution.  In  other  words  it  is  r  ,cial  life  copied  from  uuture 
and  written  down  upon  paper. 

The  sovereign  people  will  delegate  power  to  it,  still  always  retaining 
their  sovereignty.  Administration,  juries,  legislation,  government  and  all 
power  will  emanate  from  the  people  to  be  restored  to  the  people  at  the  ex 
piration  of  their  mandate.  A 

Public  election  will  constitute  in  some  degivc  a  distilling  apparatus  which 
will  be  constantly  at  work,  and  through  whicl.  public  opinion  will  evapor 
ate  in  power.  In  addition  to  all  this  a  presid-Mit  will  bo  elected  who  will 
rule  over  thirty  millions  of  men  for  the  low  su  n  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  francs  per  annum  and  who  will  live  -TI  a  cottage.  At  the  end  of 
his  tormjie  will  disappear  in  the  crowd  and  take  to  sowing  wheat  and 
slover. 


—  3  — 

'  An  admirable  organization  is  this,  producing-  at  the  same  time  a  double 
movement  of  expansion  and  concentration  ;  an  expansion  colonising  from 
without,  a  concentration  binding  the  various  colonies  together  in  one  united 
country.  And  thus  the  American  Constitution  will  surround  liberty  witli  as 
many  breastworks  as  there  may  be  states  in  the  confederacy,  so  that  of  all 
impossibilities  the  most  impossible  would  be  the  hypothesis  of  a  Yankee 
Ctesar  with  his  foot  upon  the  corpse  of  the  republic  striving  to  mount  to 
sovereign  power.  „ 

As  American  emigration  clears  away  what  will  be  called  simply  a  terri 
tory,  the  starry  constitution  will  travel  westward  almost  step  by  step  in 
company  with  the  nomadic  labor  of  the  pioneer.  When  this  new  territory 
shall  have  attained  a  legal  amount  of  population,  the  constitution  will  take 
hold  of  it  at  once  and  incorporate  it  in  the  family  of  states  ;  and  one  more 
star  will  shine  upon  the  banner  of  the  republic. 

The  confederacy  will  thus  grow  constantly  from  these  cuttings,  embrac 
ing  all  the  newly-hatched  colonies  in  the  West  in  the  simple  bonds  of  a 
unity  that  will  protect  all  the  integral  parts  of  the  Union  without  ever  be 
ing  able  to  hold  any  one  of  them  in  bondage.  Still  who  will  believe  it? 
This  model  constitution  will  result  in  a  degree  from  chance  or  if  you  prefer 
it  from  a  compromise.  A  hidden  destiny  will  doubtless  dictate  it,  as  though 
it  had  onu  day  to  support  a  world. 


III. 

• 

Liberty  alone  possesses  creative  power  ;  and  thanks  to' liberty  the  Ameri 
can  republic  will  expand  in  space — man  will  outstrip  time  in  speed  When 
the  twelth  or  the  fifteenth  son  of  the  samo  father  reaches  the  age  of  reason, 
he  will  harness  up  a  wagon  and-load  it  with  the  eraigraut's  Spartan  outfit ; 
then  embrace  his  family  and  drive  away. 

.Whore  will  ho  go  ?  To  the  great  West.  After  picking  out  a  suitable 
tract  of  public  land,  he  will  attack  the  forest  with  his  ax,  sow  his  corn  in 
a  clearing,  and  build  his  log  cabin  on  the  outskirts  of  the  wood.  When  he 
has  raised  <i  roof  above  his  head,  he  will  think  that  two  heads  might  rest 
there  as  well  as  one  ;  after  this  reflection  he  will  light  his  pipe,  get  into  the 
saddle,  and  return  to  the  village  of  his  childhood. 

He  will  go  there  to  seek  a  companion,  and  will  marry  the  lirst  comer.  He 
may  draw  blindly  in  the  lottery,  but  lie  will  always  find  the  spirit  of  order 
and  labor.  Virtue  is  the  only  dowry  of  America's  daughters.  As  to  any 
other  dowry,  it  will  not  bo  thought  of.  How  are  the  children  to  live  ? 
They  will  emigrate  in  their  turn. 

As  soon  as  the  pioneer  receiver  the  nuptial  blessing,  he  will  return  to  his 
log  cabin,  taking  his  wife  with  him  :  but  this  time  he  will  take  furniture 
and  cattle  along.  Sometime  later,  a  traveling  missionary  sent  to  spread 
the  Gospel  in  the  wilderness,  will  check  hi.s  horse  before  a  newly  built  farm 
house,  at  the  sight  of  a  swarm  of  little  ones  playing  on  the  threshold  under 
a  portico  of  frag-rant  vines. 

Man  draws  near  to  man  in  the  chemistry  of  society,  as  one  atom  attracts 
another,  in  another  order  of  composition.  A  new  cabin  will  spring  up  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  one  already  built,  for  reasons  both  of  sympathy  and 
safety.  Soon  manufacturing  industry  will  compete  with  agriculture.  The 
blacksmith  will  light  his  forge  fire  by  the  side  of  the  homestead,  to  hammer 
out  his  ploughshares  ;  the  wheelwright  will  follow  the  blacksmith,  and  then 
the  carpenter,  and  so  on,  until  the  tailor  arrives.  Agriculture  disperses  and 


—  4  — 

manufactures  concentrate.  The  village  will  owe  its  birth  to  the  latter.  Need 
I  designate  the  first,  public  edifice  to  be  built  with  the  savings  of  the  commu 
nity  ?  It  will  be  a  schoolhouse. 

And  why  should  it  not  ?  Is  not  the  Bible  the  worship  of  the  Protestant 
pioneer?  Does  not  his  piety  come  from  reading ?  Is  it  not  the  first  evi 
dence  of  a  free  citizen  of  a  free  country  to  be  able  to  read  at  least  his  news 
paper  ?  Religion  will  first  lodge  in  the  schoolhouse  :  but  iu  course  of  time 
it  will  have  a  separate  residence  :  a  church  with  its  steeple* J  will  arise  und 
the  church  bells  will  tell  tho  winds  of  the  birth  of  ti  now  community. 

Thould  there  exist  any  local  circumstances  favorablo  to  its  developement 
the  community  will  grow  almost  magically.  What  wn.-5  but  a  village  will 
change  into  a.  little  town,  then  into  un  ordinary  sized  town,  and  tit  last  into 
a  great  city,  the  metropolis  of  a  hundred  thousand  souls.  A  hundred  thous 
and,  what  am  1  saying,  four  hundred  thousand,  and  all  this,  within  the  life 
of  one  man,  and  upon  a  soil  where  only  yesterday  the  butlulo  browsed  at 
liberty. 

What  will  it  become  then,  when  steam  gives  American  civilization  a  soul 
equal  to  its  aspirations?  Everything  to  be  done  thenceforth, — agricultural  or 
industrial— must  be  done  by  machinery.  The  soil  must  be  tilled,  and  the 
harvest  reaped  by  machinery.  The  entire  surface  of  the  ejirtli  will  become 
one  immense  machine,  ever  panting  with  labor.  Armed  with  steam  pr»wer, 
North  America  will  defy. impossibilities,  and  even  attempt  to  imitate  mira 
cles.  For  example,  a  railroad  one  thousand  leagues  in  length,  will  be  laid 
down,  and  the  engine  darting  through  the  immensity  of  space,  will  call  up 
with  a  shrill  whistle,  the  yet  buriod  phantom  of  future  cities,  und  these  cit 
ies,  will  spring  from  the  ground  at  the  call  of  steam,  to  take  their  places  in 
the  sunlight. 


-?   iv. 

The  news  of  this  great  prospei&y  and  its  unprecedented  rapidity  will  crosa 
the  sea,  and  the  people  of  the  oluv  world,  deprived  of  their  share  in  the  soil 
will  cross  the  Atlantic,  and  cover  the  predestined  land  of  the  West  with  a 
Jiving  alluvium.  It  will  be  a  crusade  of  labor.  All  the  energy  of  Europe, 
(for  it  takes  strong  nerve  tojsubmit  to  expatriation),  will  thus  concur  to 
swell  the  energy  of  America  ;  und  from  their  combination,  and  from  the  ac 
tion  and  reaction  of  their  double  electricity  a  new  and  unexpected  race  will 
arise  ;  one  that  will  grow  an  inch  in  each  generation. 

The  Saxon  element  will  prove  the  richest  soil,  and  will  give  the  deepest 
impress  to  this  new  civilization.  It  will  lead  foreign  emigrants  to  the  wor 
ship  of  labor  and  of  liberty,  (he  parent  of  labor.  It  will  fulfil  a  purpose 
similar  to  the  great  tun  at  Heidelberg,  into  which  new  wine  was  poured 
each  year,  that  it  might  at  once  partake  of  the  nature  of  the  old.  Then  a 
bci'ig  hitherto  unknown  will  appear  ;  the  last  type  of  man  ;  man  master  of 
himself  ;  man  his  own  sovereign,  his  own  policeman,  his  own  priest :  tho  I 
absolute,  the  Yankee.  He  will  not  wait  for  the  government  to  protect  him, 
he  will  protect  himself,  nor  for  the  State  to  enrich  him,  he  will  make  his 
own  fortune  ;  nor  wait  for  the  government  to  designate  his  religion  in 
the  budget,  for  he  will  choose  his  own  religion  himself,  supporting  it  out 
of  his  savings. 

£  There  will  be  no  more  oppression,  either  of  conscience  or  any  other  spe 
cies  ;  no  oppression  of  one  class  by  another,  or  of  all  classes  of  society  by  a 
permanent  army.  North  America  will  only  have  an  army  for  appearance 


sake,  consisting  at  most  of  twelve  thousand  men,  disseminated"  In  little 
bands  over  the  entire  extent  of  her  territory.  There,  there  will  be  no  un 
pleasant  trac.es  of  the  past,  no  law  of  primogeniture,  no  exclusive  acade 
mies,  no  embroidery  of  distinctive  rank,  no  crosses  and  decorations,  no 
cringing  courtiers,  no  sinecure  officers,  no  charity  under  the  name  of  re 
ward  Men  will  be  estimated  at  their  real  value  ;  nothing  will  be  respect 
ed  save  work  and  money — the  incarnation  of  labor  ;  but  it  will  have  to  be 
earned  by  the  sweat  of  one's  brow,  for  the  Dolce  far  niente  will  bo  looked 
upon  in  America  as  a  robbery  committed  upon  society  in  general.  On  tho 
other  hand  every  sort  of  trade  will  become  glorious.  Work,  no  matter  in 
what  manner ;  be  what  you  list,  bootmaker,  tailor,  gardener  or  lawyer  ; 
choose  your  own  calling,  provided  that  you  loyally  furnish  your  tribute  of 
labor.  In  America  every  trade  has  its  own  nobility  ;  the  President  of  the 
republic  may  be  chosen  from  a  carpenter's  shop. 

A  seer  might  have  spoken  thus  two  centuries  since  ;  but  had  he  done  so, 
he  would  have  been  treated  as  a  visionary,  he  might  perhaps  even  been 
publicly  burnt,  as  duly  attainted  and  convicted  of  dealings  with  the  evil 
one.  And  still  the  prophecy  would  have  been  but  an  anticipation  of  the 
reality  ;  for  if  a  nation  has  ever  existed  in  the  universe  that  has  done  honor 
to  the  species,  that  nation  is  North  America,  with  its  motto,  "God  and  Lib 
erty,"  and  which,  with  the  Bible  in  one  hand  and  the  ax  in  the  other,  has 
cleared  the  surface  of  a  world  in  a  twinkling,  and  shown  man  in  all  the 
sple  jdor  of  virtue. 

In  the  very  air  of  this  new  country,  there  is  an  indefinable  breathing  of 
its  juvenile  nature,  an  inexplicable  strength  that  expands  one's  chest,  an 
exhuberant  healthfulness  in  its  exhalations  that  fortifies  both  body  and 
mind.  There  is  in  the  daily  labors  of  the  pioneer,  alone  with  Providence, 
a  something  of  religion  which  in  a  manner  elevates  the  soul  to  the  mountain 
tops.  lu  this  poetical  and  odorous  laboratory  of  agriculture,  with  no  roof 
but  the  heavens,  no  boundary  save  the  horizon,  there  exists  a  continual  re 
semblance  to  the  Infinite,  reminding  man  of  his  ultimate  destiny. 

But  while  the  American  race  was  growing  great  by  labor,  what  were 
you  doing,  Sire,  on  your  part,  you  and  your  partisans?  You  wi-re  looking 
jealously  upon  the  constantly  increasing  prosperity  of  your  Western  neigh 
bor,  for  whom  you  felt  a  fraternal  friendship  like  that  of  Cain.  You  were 
conspiring  secretly  in  order  to  establish  the  kingdom  of  cotton  and  the 
supremacy  of  cotton  shirts  upon  the  ruins  of  the  republic. 

But  you  were  BO  unfortunate  as  to  have  been  born  too  near  the  sun,  iu  a 
colony  of  bad  origin  whose  godfather  was  the  prince  of  libertines,  and 
whose  godmother  was  the  sctiui  of  the  Jacobite  army.  The  first  viceroy 
called  by  Locke's  constitution  to  the  rule  of  Carolina  was,  I  believe,  Gener 
al  Monk,  a  bedizened  traitor  who  sold  the  liberty  of  his  country  for  money. 
Your  ancestor  was  a  scoundrel,  Sire  ;  and  you  have  not  disgraced  your 
descent. 


V. 

•  i.  Why  then  do  you  wish  to  rend  asunder  this  splendid  American  republiq 
die  joy  and  glory  of  humanity  ?  We  must  know  it  for  the  instruction  ol 
this  century,  and  that  man  may  learn  to  do  his  duty  alway  despite  every 
thing.  The  American  Constitution  certainly  compared  the  ultimatum  of 
wisdom  ;  but  it  lacked  courage  in  one  clause,  aud  this  weakness  was  des 
tined  one  day  to  compromise  tne  very  existence  of  the  confederacy  *  Provi- 


denco  does  not  allow  evil  to  remain  in  what  is  good.  When  it  has  one© 
entered  it  acts  like  the  lead  in  a  wound  ;  either  the  wound  expels  the 
im'sHi'le  or  the  metal  aggravates  the  wound  until  death  ensues. 

When  America  became  possessed  of  liberty  slavery  already  existed  in  a 
portion  of  the  country  :  but  the  day  that  she  solemnly  proclaimed  before 
God  the  right  of  every  man  to  happiness,  she  should  have  placed  the  reali 
ty  in  harmony  with  the  principle,  without  futile  distinctions.  She  was 
afraid  of  justice  and  dared  neither  abolish  nor  recognixe  slavery  ;  she  did 
not  even  dare  name  it.  It  was  tacitly  permitted  as  though  a  question  of 
this  nature  could  be  passed  over  and  avoided  in  silence  ;  but  in  truth  its  so 
lution  was  entrusted  to  time. 

But  time  only  accepts  such  drafts  by  doubling  the  debt  of  the  past.  Tho 
longer  emancipation  was  put  off  the  more  aggravated  did  the  difficulty  be 
come,  and  to  you,  Sire,  is  due  the  credit  of  the  spread  of  this  scourge.  The 
very  moment  that  some  poor  devil,  accidentally  but  honestly,  found  an  in 
fernal  machine  to  pick  cotton,  you  transformed  the  South  into  a  cotton 
plantation.  And  in  order  to  cultivate  this  plantation  the  special  labor  of 
the  slave  became  necessary. 

What  is  a  slave  ?  Those  black  metaphysicians  who  wish  to  elevate  ser 
vitude  into  a  theory  in  order  to  quiet  their  consciences,  give  us  such  a  po- 
«*tie  idyl  of  negro  existence  that  we  needs  must  re-assert  the  truth  in  the 
euphemism  "involuntary  labor." 

Slavery  is  thus  termed  so  as  to  spare  the  delicacy  of  "cars  polite."  You, 
yourself,  Sire,  posted  as  you  are  in  the  matter,  never  call  it  except  by  a 
peri  phrase.  In  your  code,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  you  designate  it  the  "pe 
culiar  institution."  Barefaced  as  you  arc  in  reality,  you  at  least  show  hu 
manity  in  this  title  ;  and  in  this  you  imitate  the  inquisition  which  always 
dealt  in  euphemisms  toward  its  victims  ;  thus  the  torture  room  was  termed 
t'je  "*?«wffl  xanta"  and  upon  tho  stake  was  inscribed  the  word  "miscricordia." 

But  what  is  a  slave?  A  slave  is  u  man  robbed  of  his  soul,  he  and  his 
rae<\  until  the  end  of  posterity  ;  a  man  doomed  from  father  to  son  to  think 
with  the  brains  and  will  through  the  volition  of  another;  a  man  di 
vested  of  the  first  sacred  right  of  man  ;  to  wit,  individuality  ;  a  being 
changed  from  his  nature  ;  in  a  word  an  artificial  monster,  a  moral  ennuch, 
undeserving  of  the  deprivation.  The  church  castrates  the  child  to  make 
him  Miig  well,  but  you,  Sire,  you  castrate  him  that  he  may  pick  your  cot 
ton.  This  is  the  only  difference. 

If  in  order  to  render  a  man  a  slave  it  were  necessary  to  cut  off  one  of  his 
legs  or  arms,  the  sight  of  the  knife  and  of  the  stump  would  certainly  in  the 
end  excite  pity  ;  and  pity  once  raised  what  might  not  ensue. 

But  the  white  man,  having  tired  of  cutting  and  maiming,  finally  wished 
to  leave  the  negro  entire.  In  order  to  transform  a  man  into  an  automaton 
it  suffices  to  take  away  his  soul  gently  ;  and  as  this  requires  neither  knife 
nor  surgical  operation,  MS  it  causes  neither  outcries  nor  bloodshed  the 
world  looks  on  quietly.  After  all  it  is  only  a  metaphysical  murder  com 
mitted  in  the  realms  of  tho  invisible.  We  do  not  sec  or  touch  it  and  we 
.sleep  with  a  sound  conscience.  And  yet,  whatever  may  be  said  in  the 
country  of  yellow  fever  or  sugar  cane,  there  is  more  cruelty  in  mutilating 
him  physically.  Place  the  one  against  the  other  and  were  fate  to  summon 
us  to  choose  we  should  certainly  prefer  the  loss  of  a  leg  to  that  of  our  in 
telligence,  we  had  ra-ther  lose  an  arm  than  our  will. 

^Servitude  in  common  with  every  human  institution  has  its  own  logic. 
iMiumatxng  from  barbarity  it  leads  from  cruelty  to  cruelty,  as  result  follows 
result  in  reasoning.  • 

You  feed  the  slave  while  in  infancy  (I  had  nearly    added  while  in  old 


•  —  7    - 

age  also  ;  but  forced  labor  beneath  a  tropical  sun  rarely  allows  nim  to 
grow  old)  therefore  tho  negro  must  earn  by  his  daily  labor  not  only  his 
present  but  his  past  sustenance  ;  but  the  uegro  has  no  interest  to  stimulate 
Slim  to  work,  so  you  supply  its  place  with  the  whip.  This  is  your  idea  of 
the  perfection  of  labor  ;  but  this  is  not  all  :  discipline  must  be  maintained 
.in  this  band  of  scourged  creatures,  giddy  and  noisy  as  children 

The  raw  hide  teaches  him  to  keep  order  and  to  love  his  master  or  mis 
tress.  Both  in  France  and  in  England  by  a  braminical  species  of  law  cruel 
ty  to  animals  is  punishable  ;  but  in  America  the  skin  of  man  is  not  held  in 
such  high  esteem.  There  the  negro's  blood  is  shed  upon  the  slightest  pro 
vocation,  for  a  petty  blunder. 

It  was  evening.  The  sun  was  fading  away  in  a  golden  mist.  Upon  a 
verandah  beneath  the  shade  of  the  blossoming  vanilla  a  young  Creole  wo 
man  was  enjoying  the  cool  evening  She  was  a  mother  for  the  first  time 
and  the  mysterious  feeling  of  maternity  thrilled  her  heart.  She  looked 
up  into  the  heavens  dreamily,  when  suddenly  she  heard  a  piercing  cry, 
then  a  stifled  sigh.  For  an  instant  she  listened,  then  with  a  smile  she  bent 
over  the  odor  of  a  rose.  In  liiis  attitude  she  was  beautiful  as  the  MauS 

O1I1IA. 

A  pregnant  negress  hud  been  tiod  to  a  ladder  and  they  were  whipping 
her  poetically  by  tho  light  of  the  setting  sun.  Do  you  know  what  she  Imd 
done  ?  She  had  broken  a  saucer.  They  had  to  take  a  round  out  of  the 
ladder  to  make  room  for  the  bosom  where  the  Almighty  had  deposited  a 
soul. 


VI.' 

Sire,  you  go  regularly  to  church  every  Sunday.  You  must  .consent 
therefore,  out  of  respect  to  the  gospel,  to  allow  the  slave  to  become,  if  not  a 
man,  at  least  a  Christian.  Let  him  be  baptised  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  the 
Sou,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  by  virtue  of  his  baptism  lie  will  be  granted  a 
place  in  the  city  of  the  dead  and  equality  ui  paradise.  But  there  is  a  slight 
drawback  which  you  did  not  at  first  foresee,  in  that  the  Bible  constitutes  the 
whole  Protestant  worship.  You  should  therefore,  Sire,  as  a  Protestant, 
teach  the  slave  to  rend  so  as  to  make  him  a  good  Christian,  lint 'when  he 
learns  to  read  what  will  he  read? 

You  may  refuse  to  allow  the  slave  to  exorcise  his  intelligence,  but  you 
cannot  root  this  intelligence  out  of  his  brain.  His  intellect  works  even  un 
der  the  yoke,  although  confusedly  as  though  under  a  fog  What  would  it 
be  then — were  his  mind  to  become  educated  and  were  he  to  learn  that 
you  were  no  better  than  himself,  and  say  to  you  let  it  be  decided  between 
us  !  Man  to  man  ! 

You  foresaw  the  danger  of  this,  and  in  order  to  avert  it  you  made  his 
ignorance  the  safeguard  of  slavery.  Keeping  the  slave  in  ignorance,  Sire, 
this  has  been  your  policy  You  have  closed  the  schools  to  the  negro,  aurt 
have  hidden  the  alphabet  from  him.  The  Scythians  put  out  the  bodily  eyes, 
of  their  slaves  as  a  prudential  measure ;  but  you  treat  your  slaves  infinitely 
more  cruelly,  for  you  put  out  their  mental  eyes;  und  the  negro,  who  is  crea 
ted  after  God's  image  like  .yourself,  will  go  henceforth  from,  th,e  cradle  fa'tho 
grave  with  night  in  his  soul  and  night  on  his  face. 

You  have  elevated  him  to  Christianity,  probably  that  he  may  practice  the 
gospel,  and  the  gospel  condemns  proinisciionsn,cs**.  You  take  pains  that  the 
blacks  shall  intermarry,  and  a  clergyman  blesses  their  union.  Why  should  it 
be  blessed  ?  Kuther  lo$  it  be  cursed  iind  the  wouinu  be  rendered  barren,  for 

'" 


.     g  _ 

she  will  only  bring  forth  heirs  to  slavery.  And  the  children  born  of  this 
love,  whom  she  has  nourished  at  her  breast  and  cherished  in  her  heart  what 
will  become  of  them  when  they  reach  a  marketable  ago  ?  The  master  will 
send  them  to  market,  and  marriage,  tho  most  moral  of  all  institutions,  be 
comes  but  another  torment  added  to  slavery. 

Without  irony,  let  tho  inmates  of  the  negro  pen  be  considered  simply  as 
male  and  female ;  let  them  come  together  and  bring  forth  after  the  lapse  of 
nine  months;  let  them  mix  indiscriminately;  let  the  m  meet  promiscuously  and 
then  forget  each  other;  this  will  do  for  negroes.  Why  have  any  marriage* 
at  all?  And  the  young  white  girl,  Sire,  your  own  daughter  will  receive 
her  education  in  this  school.  I  say  nothing  of  your  sou  :  I  know  already 
what  his  first  love  affair  will  be. 

Occasionally  the  slave  takes  to  flight.  In  local  phraseology,  he  vamoses. 
The  swamps  urc  deserted  and  tho  underwood  dense.  By  sleeping  during 
the  day  and  traveling  at  night,  he  may  be  able  to  gain  the  border.  *  What 
do  you  do  to  recapture  him  ?  You  train  up  a  pack  of  bloodhounds  to  track 
the  runaway.  The  slave  owner  has  a  right  to  hunthim,  and  if  he  chooses  to 
risk  tl«j  thousand  tJollars  represented  by  his  human  game,  he  may  shoot  at 
him,  and  kill  him,  —  tho  law  allows  it. 

And  these  nameless  crimes,  these  insults  to  God  and  man,  are  not  repug 
nant  to,  and  do  not  even  astonish  the  gentle  blue-eyed  Creoles,  the  wives 
and  bisters  of  the  knights  of  the  whip  I  The  frequency  of  their  occurrence 
bus  to  a  great  extent  made  them  a  normal  state  of  affairs,  an  old  established 
tradition,  rendered  legitimate  by  custom.  What  in  fact  is  there  to  com 
plain  of  in  the  negro's  destiny  ?  Does  he  not  get  enough  to  cat  when  he  is 
hungry  ?  Does  he  not  dance  at  Christmas?  Yes,  eat  or  die,  such  is  thy 
lot;  King  Cotton  has  declared  it.  And  if  thou  shouldst  incautiously  murmur 
at  thy  portion,  thy  master  will  send  thec  to  the  plantation  executioner  with 
an  order  for  fifty  lashes,  payable  to  bearer,  and  tho  official  will  pay  them  at 
sight  without  further  formality. 

You  degrade  the  slave  at  pleasure  ;  you  put  him  up  at  auction  on  a 
olnc.k  like  butcher's  meat.  Draw  near,  here  is  a  negro,  or  better  still  a.  ne- 
gress  ;  you  may  examine  her  at  leisure,  undress  her,  turn  her  round,  dis- 
•russ  her  price  before  her,  stipulate  against  any  hidden  imperfection,  and 
then  take  possession  of  the  merchandise.  If  she  groans  and  weeps  you  may 
take  her  away  tied  to  the  tail  of  your  horse  ;  the  town  of  Raleigh  in  North 
Carolina  has  witnessed  such  an  act. 

And  after  you  have  debased  the  negro,  and  corrupted  him  by  his  degra 
dation,  how,  Sire,  do  you  satisfy  your  conscience  ?  You  make  the  slave 
himself  responsible  for  the  effects  of  slavery  :  you  use  his  baseness  as  an  ar 
gument  to  maintain  him  in  servitude.  But  who  has  branded  him  with  igno 
miny  except  you,  his  master  his  second  creator?  And  you  have  recourse  to  a 
second  crime  in  order  to  justify  the  first. 

You  lower  the  negro  to  the  level  of  a  brute,  and  then  you  say  that  he  is  not 
a  man.  And  whose  fault  is  this,  I  pray;  He  is  not  a  man,  you  say;  but  is 
not  the  negress  a  woman  ?  Yes,  when  she  is  young  and  well  made — this 
you  condescend  to  prove.  And  the  profit  is  all  your  own,  for  later  you  will 
be  able  to  sell  your  own  child.  A  mulatto  is  more  valuable  than  a  full- 
blooded  African. 

I  will  take  your  word  for  it  that  the  negro  is  despicable  ;  but  there  is 
one  still  more  despicable  than  he,  to  wit  ;  you,  yourself,  King  Cotton.  The 
slave  is  debased,  but  you  are  cruel.  Which  is  to  be  preferred,  a  vitiated 
nature  or  crime  ?  Moreover  the  negro  is  your  work,  and  the  work  is  a  cri 
terion  of  the  workman. 

rf  he  slave  being  degraded  by  his  master,  degrades  the  latter  in  his  turn. 


The  master  loses  his  sense  of  right  and  wrong  ;  the  planter  does  wrong 
without  even  suspecting  that  he  is  doing  so.  The  Caesarian  folly  of  des 
potism  extinguishes  the  last  symptom  ot  conscience  and  kills  remorse.  He 
is  candid  in  his  own  crime. 

Immorality  begets  immorality.  The  burning  soil  of  the  South  devours  the 
laborer,  who  can  only  live  thero  about  seven  years  upon  an  average.  The 
consumption  exceeds  the  supply,  and  slavery  might  die  out  for  want  of  the 
raw  material;  but  in  the  border  states,  rejoicing  in  the  "peculiar  institution," 
there  are  good  fathers  of  families,  prudeutly  intent  upon  establishing  their 
sous  aud  endowing  their  daughters.  Tht^e  men  will  originate  the  ingenious 
idea  of  profiting  by  the  mildness  of  a  temperate  climate  to  breed  up.  human 
cattle  on  a  large  scale, 

The.-e  prudent  mon  will  neck  out  well-proportioned  brood  ncgressea'  wfio 
will  produce  first-class  ntock  which  they  will  subsequently  dispose  ot  further 
South  at  high  rates.  Sire,  I  congratulate  you  upon  thU  stroke  of  genius  : 
you  have  iuvented  a  new  wort  of  conscription.  You  may  say,  as  another 
king  onco  said  :  "I  have  so  many  men  to  spend  upon  uiy  battle-field/' 

But  the  breeding  district  will  not  suffice  to  supply  the  slave-market; 
something  more  will  be  required,  and  despite  the  law,  despite  the  penalty 
ot  death  provided  by  the  law  lor  the  slaver  captain,  the  Southron  will  bold- 
ty  keep  up  the  slave  trade  in  the  open  light  of  day.  You  will  protect  him 
secretly  ;  you  will  interpose  your  authority  between  tho  criminal  and  the 
g'allows.  When  a  cruiser  brings  to  Charleston  a  slaver  aptured  in  the  ex 
ercise  of  his  vocation,  the  planter-judge;  will  declare  that  ;he  honest  dealer 
in  human  flesh  has  been  calumniated,  and  that  he  was  sailing  along  the  Af-' 
ricau  coast  for  purely  philanthropic  purposes,  solely  in  order  to  offer  the 
advantages  of  commerce  to  the  black  race. 

But  before  long  the  farce  of  this  underhand  traffic,  continually  pursued 
with  impunity,  will  prove  too  revolting  to  the  uprightness  of  the  South,  and 
some  honest  citizen  will  demand  the  reestablishroeut  of  the  slave  trade  open- 
ly  and  undisguisedly.  This  man  merits  mention.  He  is  called  Doctor  Thor- 
well,  and  his  name  should  be  nailed  like  a  rook  to  Jefferson  Davis'  door. 

I  do  not  say,  Sire,  that  your  Southern  vassals  are  altogether  bloodthirsty 
men,  of  repulsive  mien,  whose  clothes  reek  with  the  professional  odor  of 
butchers.  On  the  contrary,  they  are  perfect  gentlemen,  agreeable,  amiable, 
and  always  ready  to  do  the  honors  of  the-r  homes  with  smiling,  constant 
courtesy.  They  have  debts,  white  hands,  and  good  manners.  They  are 
good  hunters,  riders,  and  pistol  shotH.  They  arc  fond  of  painting,  music 
und  literature.  They  look  upon  labor  as  derogatory,  therefore  they  do  not 
work;  but  they  possess  all  the  charms  of  aristocratic  slothluiness,  includ 
ing  good-breeding,  good-taste,  and  well-lined  purses. 

Do  not  fear  that  they  will  ever  doubt  the  right  fulness  of  slavery.  Their 
theologians  of  all  denominations — and  they  arc  more  subtle  than  the  most 
wily  casuists  of  the  old  school  of  Ignatius  Loyola — have  long  since  re 
lieved  the  conscience  of  the  planter  ot'  nil  anxiety  on  this  head.  These 
religion-mongers  who,  like  Judas  Iscuriot,  would  sell  Christ  a  second  time, 
open  their  Bible  with  a  pious  air,  and  through  the  assistance  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  they  discover  that  the  Lord  eternally  empowers  the  white  men  of 
Louisiami  to  buy  black  flesh  for  their  use,  and  to  whip  the  same  ad  libitum, 

Whenever  a  crime  is  committed  in  this  world  there  will  always  be  a  crea 
ture  in.  clerical  guise  upon  its  trace,  ready  to  canonize  the  deed  and  make 
God  have  a  hand  ia  it.  0m  nut  potestas  a  Deo.  Your  chaplain,  Sire,  has 
no  doubt  communicated  this  text  to  your  august  ear,  aud  demonstrated  to 
you  from  the  pulpit  that  you  possess  a  ri^ht  of  life  and  death  over  your 
fellow -creatures  for  the  public  welfare  of  Cotton. 


—  10  — 


VII. 

Still,  North  America  permitted  matters  to  take  their  course.  She  seemed 
to  have  good-naturedly  consented  to  the  scandal  of  a  republic  in  two  parts, 
with  liberty  inscribed  "upon  one  page  of  its  constitution  and  slavery  upon  the 
other  ;  but  liberty  possess- H  such  virture  in  itself  that  if  you  link  it  to  ser 
vitude  one  of  two  results  in list  ensue  ;  either  servitude  will  stifle  it,  or  it 
will  efface  the  former. 

The  dtiy  was  destined  to  come  when  men  worthy  of  the  name  should  ex 
amine  the  conscience  of  the  republic  and  demand  whether  the  living  para 
dox  of  the  "peculiar  institution"  should  still  longer  dishonor  the  country  .of 
AVashington.  A  voice,  low  and  indistinct  at  first,  risen  from  Pcnn's  colony, 
pronouncing  the  word  "abolition;  "  but  timidly  like  ajwcrot  whispered  in 
one's  car. 

This  lirst  protest  astonished,  and  then  irritated  even  the  immaculate 
North.  Why  raise  thus  unseasonably  a  ditliculty'of  this  nature?  Why 
disturb  the  quiet  of  those  who  s»iw  nothing  and  the  peflce  of  those  who  did 
not  wish  to  see  anything,  of  those  who  turned  aside  their  heads  and  kept 
on  their  way  ?  Therefore  the  people  of  Philadelphia  grew  indignant  and 
set  tire  to, the  hall  where  abolitionism  held  its  first  meeting. 

Then  Channing  began  to  speak,  and  by  the  evangelical  serenity  of  his 
eloquence  h^  gently  brought  North  America  to  blush  for  this  and  to  har 
monise  her  policy  with  that  liberty  decreed  by  the  heart  of  man  before  it 
was  countersigned  by  the  constitution.  From  thai  moment  the  abolition 
party  weighed  in  the  balance  of  public  opinion  wiih  all  the  weight  of  jus 
tice. 

But  win.1  to  the  ingenuous  apostle  simple-minded  enough  to  believe,  that, 
under  a  rfyime  of  absolute  liberty,  h»*  hud  a  right  to  utter  his  opinions 
aloud  in  the  streets.  If,  by  chance,  he  had  the  impudence  to  show  .a  luck 
of  respect  for  the  "peculiar  institution"  or  to  assert  casually  that  a' a  very 
was  perhaps  not  the  bran-idenl  of  civ  Hi/at  ion,  when  in  the  land  of  good-bivcd- 
ing,  the  home  of  your  rich,  last  planters,  well  gloved  and  curled,  elegant  in 
Panama  hats  nnd  white  pantaloons,  that  very  instant  the  unfortunate  aboli 
tionist  found  himself  seized  by  the  collar  to  be  tarred  and  feathered  in  the 
Stat1.4  HO.IIMQ  ;  for  the  knights  of  the  lash  are  a  jovial  race  and  fondut  «  joke 
in  thoJr  idle  moments.  When  they  have  no  slaves  to  punish  with  their 
lordly  hands,  they  love  to  enjoy  a  free,  hearty  laugh,  especially  after  a 
"cocktail."  They  hold  that  since  the  days  of  Moliere  a  mun  daubed  with 
tar  is  the  wittiest  thing  invented,  and  they  rep»at  the  joke  ad  nauseam/ 

Still,  experience  showed  tlm  relative  value  of  free  labor  and  slave  labor. 
While  free  labor  in  the  north  of  America  was  incessantly  invading  the  wil 
derness,  peopling  the  desert,  drawing  the  stout  sons  of  Europe  to  its  rank.*?, 
and  jointly  with  them  transforming  a  desert  into  a  nation  at  every  step,  ser 
vile  labor,  despite  the  development  of  the  cultivation  of  cotton,  aiid  not 
withstanding  that  it  monopolized  the  European  markets,  was  barely  enabled 
to  keep  a  people,  burdened  with  debt,  at  the  same  level  during  the  sahfe 
period.  With  progress  o.n  the  one  hand  and  stagnation  on  the  other  must 
result  the  following  consequence. 

The  Senate  represents  the  States.  So  many  states  send  so  many  Senators, 
whatever  be  tl  'r  population  ;  but  owing  to  the  increasing  flow  of  emigra 
tion  the  North  was  alone  able  to  improvise  new  states  and  consequently  to 
..-.end  new  Senators  to  Congress.  The  North,  therefore,  year  after  year,  had 
a,  majoiity  in  the  Senate  ;  and  a*  the  section  inclined  more  and  more  toward 
abolitionism,  the  day  drew  near  to  put  the  slavery  question  to  the  vote. 


—  a  — 

What  did  the  South  do  in  order  to  restore  \he  equilibrium  and  retain  the 
majority?  Being  unable1  to  create  new  states  by  their  labor,  they  essayed 
to  conquer  such  by  dint  of  arms  and  to  sow  slavery  by  force.  Thus  they 
got  up  the  Mexican  expedition  and  imposed  involuntary  labor  upon  Texas. 
Labor  in  vain,  the  North  was  always  ahead. 

The  South,  feeling  that  their  human  property  was  in  danger,  thought  fit 
to  play  a  bold  game,  and  on  their  part  to  threaten  to  split  the  republic  in 
twain.  They,  thus  succeeded  in  obtaining  from  the  easy-going  good-na 
tured  North,  first  the  Missouri  compromise,  then  its  violation,  then  the  ex 
tradition  law,  then  the  decision  ot  the  United  States  Court  placing  slave 
property  on  a  footing  with  all  other  kinds  of  property  in  every  state  in  the 
Union.  This  amounted  to  rendering  slavery  universal.  The  South  went 
too  far.  Destiny  looked  on  and  cried,  Halt ! 


VIII. 

But  one  day  an  honest  man  named  John  Brown  tried  to  discover  whether 
there  were  any  pulsation  left  beneath  the -negro's  cotton  shirt.  This  was 
an -error,  I  admit.  You  seized  the  noble  champion  of  humanity,  you  tried 
him  and  you  hung  him.  Bravo,  Sire,  1  recognize  you  by  this  act  of  clemen 
cy,  for  you  could  have  burnt  him  alive  at  the  stake  I  But  when  he  was  ex 
ecuted  a  great  shudder  swept  through  the  North  of  America.  Thenceforth 
the  sacred  cause  of  abolitionism  was  invested  with  the  halo  of  martyrdom. 

It  had  already  sounded  its  tocsin,  ii*  the  shape  of  a  paltry  little  book 
written  by  a  woman  ;  and  it  was  less  than  a  book,  it  was  a  novel.  You 
smiled  compassionately  at  it,  did  you  not  ?  Your  children  may  cry  over  it 
lor  a  long  while.  America  read  Mrs.  Stowe's  elegy  and  bewailed  her  state  ; 
and  the  presidency  of  Abraham  Lincoln  sprang  from  the  presidency  of  Uii- 
clc  Tom. 

I  breathe  again.  I  have  rid  me  of  a  nightmare,  for  the  time  for  justice 
has  arrived  :  right  is  not  a  lie.  Scarcely  had  the  South  learned  the  election 
of  Lincoln  before  with  their  impious  hand,  already  polluted  with  the  blood 
of  the  slave,  they  dared  to  strike  their  mother,  to  strangle  the  Constitution, 
throwing  to  the  winds  the  common  glory  ef  their  common  country,  tolling 
the  Union  their  intention  to  walk  thenceforward  independently  with  the 
negro  trampled  beneath  their  feet. 

You,  Sire,  and  you  alone,  without  provocation  or  excnse,  have  broken 
the  compact  which  you  signed  and  swore  to  keep.  In  your  rebellious  folty 
you  said  to  yourself,  "What  have  I  to  fear  from  the  North,  from  the  lovers 
of  peace  and  dollars  ?  Will  they  dare  to  raise  an  army  tor  the  abstract 
satisfaction  of  unity?  And  supposing  that  they  dare,  I  need  only  hold  fast  to 
my  bajcft  of  cotton.  At  one  blow  I  can  cause  a  famine  in  nil  the  markets 
of  Europe,  and  array  all  the  spindles  and  looms  of  Manchester  and  Mul- 
house  against  these  fanatical  Yankees,  and  their  Constitution.  Then  Eng 
land  and  France  must  of  necessity, — either  jointly  or  separately — intervene, 
in  favor  of  slavery  in  order  to  save  their  cotton. 

And  if  they  hesitate,  if  they  shrink  from  armed  mediation,  what  will 'they 
do  with  their  disbanded  hosts  of  cotton  spinners  ?  Will  they  be  allowed  to 
wander  at  random,  pale  and  ragged,  like  the  spectres  of  famine,  about  the 
extinguished  furnaces  and  silent  factories,  until  at  Jast,  tired  of  suffering 
they  make  one  desperate  effort  and  throw  themselves  upon  the  bayonets  of 
their  countrymen  ?  Certainly  not  ;  France  as  well  as  England  must  prefer 
to  open  the  Southern  markets  at  any  cost,  even  by  force  of  shot  and  she41. 


•in 

-*   —       ^ J|        — •• 

is  the  impious  'calculation  you  made  when  you  labelled 
he  Constitution.  You  condemned  the  poorer  classes  of  Europe  to  want  for 
work,  in  other  word*,  to  a  slow  death,  so  as  to  preserve  slavery  in  all  its 
parity  ;  after  adding  another  crime  to  your  list,  you  hauled  down  the  federal 
dag  waving  over  Fort  Surnter. 

During  the  last  ten  year*,  Sire,  you  have  been  silently  preparing  for  civil 
war.  You  furnished  the  first  example  of  a  conspirator  in  the  Cabinet.  You 
have  overspread  the  South  with  an  immense  network  of  rabid  democracy. 
Long  since  you  organised  the  secret  society  of  the  Knights  of  the  Golden 
Circle,  the  three  golden  circles  inclosed  the  one  within  the  other,  with  all 
the  dexterity  of  a  Chinese  puz/Je.  The  first  was  to  separate  the  sec 
ond,  and  t?ie  second  the  third,  and  the  countersign  passed  from  one  to  the 
other  without  tint  possibility  of  discovering  who  hud  given  it. 

You  chose  your  tinit;  well.  The  Constitution  places  an  interval  of  three 
months  batween  the  election  of  the  President  and  his  inauguration  ;  during 
that  period,  Buchanan  was  finishing  his  presidential  term,  like  a  gloomy 
sunset,  lie  was  a  mart  after  your  own  heart,  a  mind  devoted  to  sla 
very,  a  magnetic  needle  turned  to  the  South  pole  instead  of  toward 
the  North,  and  he  conscientiously  employed  the  balance  of  his  presidency 
in  betraying  the  Union. 

Treason  is  perhaps  too  forcible  an  expression — he  was  not  exactly  a 
traitor.  But  when  the  rebellion  boldly  declared  itself,  when  civil  war  was 
openly  begun,  Buchanan  was  most  conveniently  affected  with  a  wilful  dim 
ness  of  ocular  and  mental  vision  ;  ho  saw  nothing,  and  knew  nothing.  He 
sent  all  the  Northern  ordnance  to  the  South  ;  he  sent  the  army  to  the 
Western  frontier  in  order  to  prevent  the  imminent  invasion  of  a  dozen  red 
skins  win)  threatened  to  pillage  the  New  York  banks. 

Thus  you  had  three  months  start  of  the  North.  You  took  them  unawares. 
You  had  them  within  range,  you  had  an  army  while  they  had  but  militia. 
They  rushed  heedlessly  against  you  at  Bull  Km,  and  you  butchered  them. 
£o  there  was  nothing  left  but  to  admit  the  defeat  and  beg  for  mercy! 

By  no  means  !   While  still  under  the  first  shock  of  the  disaster,  this  peace 
ful  laborious  people,  thus  villainously  attack"  1  and  abominably  massacred 
in  ambuscades,  sent  back  a  shout  of  defiance,  and  staked  everything    in  the 
struggle,  to  its  last man  and  its  last  dollar. 

Heroism  is  contagious.  America  oftVred  so  magnificent  a  spectacle  to 
right-minded  Europeans,  that  young  princes,  ignorant  of  democracy  through 
the  accident  of  their  birth,  deemed  it  an  honor  to  win  their  spurs  beneath 
,  the  banner  of  the  Republic.  The  fact  is  greatly  to  their  credit;  1  say  it 
without  flattery,  for  between  their  principles  and  our  principles,  lies  the 
broad  Atlantic.  For  their  account  I  hope,  that  while  serving  under  the 
star-spangled  banner,  they  may  havu  loanied  that  there  is  something  high 
er  thaa  princes,  that  there  is  the  citizen. 


IX. 

During  this  time,  Sire,  you  sent  agents  to  Europe  to  decoy  public 
ion  to  the  side  of  slavery.  Your  legates  it  latere  are  at  this  moment  dis 
pensing  a  prodigious  amount  of  philanthropy.  They  say,  or  make  others 
say,  in  affecting  tones  ;  see,  blood  is  being  poured  out  like  water  ;  battles 
constantly  succeed  cuch  other  and  always  without  result  ;  after  two  years 
slaughter  in  line  upon  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  the  Nortli  has  been  unable 
to  advauee  a  step  without  falling  back  immediately  afterward.  The  mari- 


—  13  — 

time  nation*  of  Europe  should  throw  themselves  between  tbe  combatants 
in  imitation  of  the  Sabines.  The  interests  of  humanity  are  at  stake  as  well 
as  your  industrial  interests. 

This  is  what  the  missionaries  from  the  South  preach  10  the  four  corners 
nf  i  he  earth.  Do  not  delude  yourself,  Sire.  Despite  the  sullying  that  your  frat 
ricidal  struggle  inflicts  upon  our  country,  you  will  not  succeed  in  pervert 
ing  public  opinion  ;  you  may  try  every  avc-iuo  of  publicity,  but  you  will 
ouly  find  fickle  partisans  and  doubtful  friends  of  freedom.  We  have  seen 
them  at  work,  wo  know  their  record  ;  they  like  your  despotism,  not  that 
they  uphold  slavery,  for  its  name  frightens  them  ;  they  would  condemn  the 
property  and  glorify  the  owner. 

With  such  as  these  there  can  be  no  discussion  ;  they  are  kuown  and  re 
futed.  There  arc,  however,  in  the  ranks  of  the  French  press,  partisans 
of  liberty  like  ourselves,  who  think  themselves  able  to  defend  what  they 
call  the  principle  of  secession  without  offence  to  liberty.  They  say  honest 
ly  that,  with  ourselves,  they  reject  slavery  in  principle — with  this  addition, 
that  the  American  republic  is  not  a  State,  that  it  is  a  juxta-position  of  States, 
each  of  which  has  the  right  to  withdraw  from  tho  Union  arid  take  its  star 
from  the  flag. 

The  American  republic  not  a  State  I  Verily,  we  must  be  asleep  with  our 
eyes  open.  According  to  this,  Holland  also  was  not  a  state  in  the  seven 
teenth  century  !  Then  Switzerland  too,  is  not  a  nation  at  this  hour  of  her 
history  ;  and  when  General  Dufour  crushed  the  Sonderbuud  insurrection,  he 
committed  in  reality  tho  same  crime  that  Catherine  was  guilty  of  toward 
Poland  ! 

What !  The  North  and  the  South  of'  America  one  memorable  day  in 
the  last  century  by  common  consent  threw  off  the  supremacy  of  the  mother 
country,  to  enjoy  it  entirely  in  common  ;  they  voted  a  federal  constitution 
in  common  ;  they  built  a  federal  capitol  in  common,  where  they  instal  and 
organize  a  federal  legislative  system  in  common  and  a  federal  presidency,  a 
federal  administration,  a  federal  diplomacy,  a  federal  urmy  and  navy,  a  fed 
eral  mint,  and  later  jointly  also,  they  bought  Louisiana  from  France  and 
Florida  from  Spain  with  federal  money,  and  again  out  of  federal  funds  they 
armed  forts  and  built  arsenals  for  the  universal  defence  of  all  their  frontiers, 
and  yet  they  are  not  a  State,  nor  even  a  nation,  but  simply  a  handful  of 
dust  vhich  the  first  gust  of  wind  may  disperse ! 

Read  the  constitution  over  again  !  There  you  will  see  that  the  thirteen 
original  states  entered  into  a  solemn  agreement  each  one  with  the. other,  to 
form  always  one  single  national  body.  As  long  as  the  South  held  a  majori 
ty  in  i  he  republic,  (and  as  a  consequence  of  such  majority  the  monopoly 
of  the  presidency,  and  with  the  presidency  the  disposal  of  the  federal  offices, 
a  welcome  gift  for  distribution  among  their  party  leaders)  they  never 
dreamed,  that  I  know,  of  disputing  the  sucredness  of  the  contract,  or  of 
contesting  the  legitimacy  of  a  power  which  they  monopolized  for  their  ad 
vantage,  and  enjoyed  among  themselves. 

And  now  that  luck  is  against  them,  when  they  are  in  a  minority,  when 
it  is  the  turu  of  the  North" to  hold  the  presidency,  after  legally  gaining  it, 
the  South  complains  of  overbearing.  They  held  the  place  long  but  now 
they  are  told  to  leave  and  make  room  for  another.  The  grandee's  honor  is 
insulted :  he  puts  on  his  hat  and  leaves,  in  a  rage,  nothing  but  a  duel  to  the 
death  can  avenge  the 


—  14  — 


Since  when  has  it  been  optional  with  one  party  to  an  agreement  to  an 
nul  the  contract  without  tho  consent  of  the  other  party  ?  A  contract  in  en 
tered  into  precisely  in  order  to  prevent  such  a  contingency.  Otherwise 
there  would  never  be  any  treaty  in  tho  world  and  man's  hand-writing 
would  be  but  a  writing  upon  sand.  Tho  fate  of  the  world  would  be  contin 
ually  dependent  upon  the  peculiar  system  of  pitch  and  toss  called  military 
science. 

Why  was  the  thing  called  a  constitution  thought  of,  unless  in  order  to 
prevent  what  the  South  i*  doing  at  this  moment.  Every  nation,  even  when 
self-styled  one  .and  indivisible,  must  always  run  the  risk  of  domestic' quar 
rels  ;  and  there  are  but  two  means  to  dccido  the  difference,  war  or  the  bal 
lot  box. 

When  war  is  resorted  to  the  stronger  crushes  down  the  weaker  until  the 
latter  rises  up  and  crushes  the  conqueror  in  his  turn — and  thus  war  begets  . 
war  without  end,  until  the  country  after  tearing  itself  to  pieces  with  it's  own 
hands,  expires  in  a  convulsion  of  anarchy  and  disappears  in  a  conquest. 

If  it  is  to  be  settled  by  the  constitution,  then,  instead  of  appealing  to  the 
sword  tho  verdict  of  public  opinion  will  be  Bought  :  the  struggle  will  be 
definitively  settled  by  suffrage. .  The  minority  will  respectfully  agree  to  the 
decision  of  the  majority  as  the  expression  of  justice.  This  is  a  simple  fic 
tion  for  the  benefit  of  the  common  weal,  implying  no  irrevocable  decree, 
for,  according  to  the  constitution  itself,  the  minority  always  possess  the 
right  of  reconsidering  the  subject  before  the  people  when  what  is  lacking 
may  be  recovered. 

.Hitherto  this  has  been  the  great  rule  in  politics.  Hut  tho  South  thought 
fit  to  make  an  exception.  Tliey  willingly  approved  the  ballot  box  when  it 
gave  them  a  majority,  but  when  they  found  themselves  in  a  minority  they 
to(>k  up  tho  musket.  We  must  certainly  admit  tho  right  to  revolt  or  else 
.proclaim  the  inviolability  of  tyranny,  but  recourse  to  force;  can  never  rank 
as  a  system.  It  can  only  be  resorted  to  as  a  forlorn  hope,  and  there  must 
exist  the  sacred  incentive  of  freedom  to  be  gained  in  order  to  justify  an  up 
right  man  in'assurning  the  tragical  responsibility  of  a  revolution. 

But  when  all  the  advantages  of  liberty  are  combined,  when  a  people  are 
thus  above  public  opinion,  and  with  every  means  of  redress  at  hand,  what 
right  can  they  hope  to  obtain  by  victory  which  they  do  not  already  pos 
sess  ?  One  of  the  best  and  most  deserving  feature*  of  the  American  Con 
stitution  is  that  it  lends  no  species  of  plea  for  insurrection.  Why,  for  in 
stance,  should  the  people  of  Illinois  declare  war  against  the  Union,  when 
tho  Union  oppresses  liberty  in  no  section,  but  on  tho  contrary  everywhere 
guarantees  it. 

And  yet,  Sire,  you  have  unsheathed  the  sword,  and  why?  Had  the  ne 
gro  race  not  been  iu  existence  you  would  not  have  dreamed  of  rebelling, 
for  your  rebellion  will  not  give  you  a  single  additional  right  or  guarantee. 
You  have  revolted  for  one  object  only,  the  maintenance  of  slavery. 
Hitherto  nations  have  rebelled  for  liberty  alone.  Your  subjects,  Sire,  will 
be  the  first  that  have  risen  to  support  despotism. 

Your  keep  up  your  rebellion  by  means  worthy  of  its  origin.     I  do  not  al 
lude  to  the  reign  of  terror  that  you  have  created  at  home  in  order  to  stifle 
he  muruiurings  of  the  loyal  partisans  of  the  Union  who  still  look  wistfully 
in  the  direction  of  their  common  home.    Nor  will   I   refor  to   the   tcrriblo 
cannibal-Urn  which  a  certain  young  Belgian  savant  has  depicted  in   all  its 


-15- 

tenlble  truthfulness.  You  have  closed  the  door  upon  us,  Siro,  And  bidder 
yourself  from  our  sight.  You  are  modest  regarding  your  handiwork,  lear 
ing  its  perfections  to  be  inferred  rather  than  admired. 

I  speak  only  of  your  f»pen  and  avowed  acts;  of  your  barbarous  proclam 
ations  unworthy  of  Ghcngis-Kim  in  which  you  condemned  Union  General* 
and  negro  soldiers  to  the  baiter.  And  this  is  not  merely  a  threat,  for  you 
have  already  carried  the  sentence  into  effect.  Still  you  had  a  scruple  •  you 
might  have  simply  hanged  your  black  prisoners  ;  but  you  preferred  to  shoot 
them.  This  is  shorter  and  more  honorable.  Sire,  yoar  conduct  is  hor 
rible. 

After  this  what  can  it  serve  to  mention  the  Alabama,  a  corsair  that 
plunders  and  then  sinks  every  merchant  vessel  in  her  path,  brazenly  violat 
ing  the  first  law  of  privateering,  for  even  privateering  has  its  iaws.  We 
note  this,  Sire,  and  we  see  by  your  conduct  that  you  are  really  the  pirate 
king  that  rumor  terms  you.  By  your  present  acts  we  see  that  you  need 
hypocrisy  in  order  to  wheedle  some  European  power  into  an  alliance.  We 
can  foresee  to  what  extent  you  would  carry  your  filibustering  if  victory 
could  obliterate  your  revolt.  You  lay  down  the  mask  too  soon,  Sire.  I 
despise  you,  for  you  lack  sense. 


XI. 

I  know  that  there  are  men  among  us  ^who  feel  a  natural  antipathy  to  the 
Yankee  race.  How  cau  they  like  a  pco'ple  who  never  laugh  and  hardly 
smile,  who  speak  but  little  and  meditate  eternally  ?  What  merit  can  be 
granted  to  a  morose  race  who  have,  up  to  the  present,  failed  to  produce  an 
actress  or  a  milliner  of  any  note,  or  even  a  racy  specimen  of  their  literature? 
TlKjy  chew,  smoke,  and  spit,  mid  sit  with  their  heels  on  the  mantel-piece. 
How  disgusting  u  spectacle  to  the  goddess  of  liberty.  At  the  theatre  when 
they  ought  to  hiss  they  applaud,  and  when  they  should  applaud  they  hiss. 
Is  not  this  turning  the  world  upside  down?  You  will  soon  see  them  wear 
ing  white  mourning:  like  the  Chinese.  And  how  about  this  democratic 
equality  where  onelms  but  one  scat  in  a  steamboat  or  railroad  car,  whoro 
the  millionaire  must  sit  side  by  side  with  his  bootblack!  A  certain  French 
lady,  tolerably  well  known  in  print,  even  goes  so  far  as  to  affirm  that  the 
Yankee  sleeps  with  his  boots  on.  Pray  how  do  you  know,  madam  ?  Did  you 
look  under  the.  counterpane  ? 

The  Yankee,  I  admit,  possesses  the  defect  of  being  a  meditative  man. 
He  is  as  taciturn  as  the  Western  wilderness.  He  does  not  slap  you  on  the 
shoulder  at  the  first  meeting ;  he  does  not  jump  into  familiarity  at  the  sec 
ond  ;  he  does  not  burrow  a  dollar  or  your  wife  the  third  time  he  sees' 
you  ;  but  is-  this  a  fair  reason  why  one  should  set  one'sself  against  right, 
because  the  Yankee  happens  to  represent  right,  dry  and  unadorned.  And 
is  it  not  an  evidence  of  being  prejudiced  against  right  when  you  place  the 
North  and  the  South  on  a  footing  of  equality  ?  Peace  is  desirable  in  the 
interest  of  Immunity,  we  are  told.  Undoubtedly  it  is  to  be  desired  ;  but 
how  is  it  to  be  obtained  ? 

»Can  it  be  secured  by  recogni/.ing  the  schism  of  the  South  as  a  perfected 
act,  and  by  advising  the  North  to  accept  this  basis  ?  This  view  of  the 
question  would  encourage  the  South  to  continue  the  war  ;  it  would  lead 
them  to  believe  that  they  were  secretly  supported  by  some  great  European 
nation  ;  and  further,  it  Would  be  an  unmerited  blow  to  the  North,  legaliz 
ing  rebellion  by  I  know  not  what  sort  of  diplomatic  chicanery. 


-16- 

When  an  established  government  permits  foreign   intervention  between 
the  cons  tU  ition  wliicl.  it  should  defend,  and  a  portion  of  its  .people  in  re, 
Sst  thin  constitution,  it  docs  not  negoc.ate  ;  it  resigns  its  rights 
nd  would  have  done.  had  she  accepted  the  mediation  of  Austria   at 


Scotland.     But  the  North,  irritated  and 
this  traitorous  war  self- 


toMtw 

co  H  lei  t  and  firm  in  their  sense  «f  right,  will  spend  ten  years  of  heroic 
fi-htin.-  and  ten  thousand  millions  of  money,  bciorc  they  will  consent  to 
forfeit  these  rights,  or  admit  that  they  are  in  any  degree  in  the  wrong. 

If  a  peedy  peace  is  wished  for,  the  South  must  be  placed  beyond  the  pale 
of  miblic  opinion  A  moral  blockade  is  necessary.  One  must  turn  aside 
anrS'ldouotknowyou;  you  may  win  battles  and  shoot  negroes,  you 
may  Im  n  defenceless  vessels,  you  may  be  able  to  accomplish  all  of  which 
unbridled  force  is  capable:  you  may  do  all  tins,  but  you  cannot  enlist  the 
sympathies  of  a  single  honest  man  in  Europe. 

*  This  state  of  "Coventry"  would  have  checked  the  arrogance  of  the  South, 
arid  micM  upon  the  popular  mind  in  the  l'».'g  run      The  secret  opposition 

a  pJrnon  of  the  Southern  people  would  gradually  have  grown  in  s  rength, 
and  Laity  the  majority  would  have  comprehended  Urn  :  tuoy  were  the  main 
stay  of.  his  terrible  tragedy.  A  war  for  what  object  ?  To  maintain  sla- 
vjrv  fur  the  benefit  of  one  hundred  thousand  planters,  deeply  indebted  and 
mortgaged  to  the  North,  and  who  find  it  convenient  at  present  to  pay  their 
debts  with  musket  balls. 

The  South  cannot  conquer.  They  have  gained  temporary  advantages, 
but  at  this  moment  their  armies  arc  harmless  and  lionimcd  in  beyond  the 
possibility  of  escape.  The  South  has  to  face  a  terrible  enemy,  one  that 
strikes  incessantly"  and  destroys  them  in  detail.  Ihia  enemy  is  Time. 
Every  day  "xhau-ts  them  more  and  more.  llicy  are  only  able  to  carry  on 
the  war  BOW,  by  conscription  and  paper  money  ;  they  have  no  longer  any 
revenue  or  products,  and  the  grass  grows  in  more  than  one  city  in  your 

^"nlJTbolition  of  slavery  has  given  tho  rebellion  its  death-blow.      The 

.'Southerners  may  point  a  pistol  at  the  heart  of  every  negro  ;  but  the  sacred 

"leaven  of  liberty  will  act—  with  greater  or  less  rapidity,   doubtless-yct  it 

h  destined  in  one  way  or  another  to  work  upon  tho  minds   of  the  enslaved 

'race  and  at  this  moment  more  than  one  negro  is  thinking  of  I  he   northern 

ban^ot  the  Potomac,  with  his  car  to  the  earth  to  catch   the  sound   of  the 

C<\nd  asVn  opportunity  now  offers,  I  crave  leave  to  render  my  homage  to 
the  i.'iticnt  genius  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  In  France  we  have  an  incurable  passion 
tor  theatrical  effect  in  politics  :  we  deem  it  fashionable  to  sneer  at  the  en- 
cr-etic  slowness  of  the  taukee  President,  Being  unable,  with  our  Gallic 
temperament,  to  comprehend  those  phlematic  natures  that  grow  greater 
under  defeat  than  victory-1'kc  Coligny  or  William  ot  Orangc-we  ask  of 
ourselves  why  Mr.  Lincoln  signed  the  emancipation  bill  with  two  clauses, 
the  one  decreeing  the  immediate,  and  the  other  the  prospective  abolition  of 

ft'*W?rca*oii  a«  though  Mr.  Lincoln  wielded  a  dictatorial,  unrestricted 
power  at  the  White  House,  accounting  solely  to  the  God  of  his  conscience. 
lint  Mr.  Lincoln  simply  presides  over  a  republic  where  popular  opinion 
rules,  and  he  is  surrounded  by  divers  opinions  upon  the  question  ot  sla 
very  The  democratic  party  wish  to  uphold  it,  and  the  republicans  desire 
to  abolish  it,  therefore  Mr.  Lincoln  waits,  with  an  oye-lixed  upon  each  Bide 


of  th% 


—  17  — 


XII. 

No  one  knows  better  than  Mr.  Lincoln  how  to  utilize  defeat  When,  by 
a  bold  victory,  the  South  provoked  the  North  to  recognize  the  necessity  of 
emancipation,  Mr.  Lincoln  at  once  yielded  and  made  a  step  forward.  And 
in  like  manner,  after  the  disaster  at  Chreronea,  the  Lincoln  of  Athens,  did 
away  with  slavery,  and  when  a  slave  thanked  him  he  answered,  you  owe 
your  freedom  not  to  me  but  to  Ghferonea.  I  borrow  this  historical  incident 
from  Mr.  Agenor  do  Gasparin's  eloquent  work. 

I  have  faith  in  Lincoln,  I  believe  in  the  old  rail-splitter.  At  tin's  Moment 
he  holds  u  world  in  his  hand,  and  I  hope  that  he  will  not  let  it  fall ;  but  im 
possible  as  it  seems,  if,  at  some  future  day  the  North  should  mistrust  itself  and 
regret  the  old  state  of  affairs  in  the  past,  what  could  such  an  act  of  weak 
ness  effect?  The  artery  once  opened,  its  tide  could  be  arrested  for  an  in 
stant  only. 

I  will  even  admit  the  hypothesis  that  the  North  may  confess  its  powerless- 
ness  and  say  to  the  slave-whippers,  to  the  rag-pickers  of  the  Constitution, 
who  have  thrown  it  into  their  basket  as  though  it  were  an  old  rag,  I  am 
wrong,  and  I  am  sorry.  Let  us  call  our  witnesses  and  amicably  establish 
our  respective  frontiers. 

But  where  will  you  place  the  boundary  ?  Perhaps  you  will  lay  it  down 
along  the  Hue  of  the  Potomac,  a  line  so  often  won  and  lost,  and  watered 
with  human  blood,  or  by  the  long  trail  of  the  five  hundred  thousand  corpses 
of  what  were  once  father?,  sons,  brother.*,  men  loving  and  beloved,  who  lie 
rotting  now  because  the  gentlemen  of  South  Carolina  thought  fit  one  day  to 
commit  a  double  crime;  a  crime  against  humanity  and  a  crime  against 
their  country. 

You  will  set  your  stakes  across  this  cemetery,  above  the  almost  uncovered 
bones  mouldering  there  ;  but  sink  them  as  deep  as  you  may,  they  will  not 
hold.  You  will  sign  a  peace,  but  you  will  not  have  it ;  for  beneath  the  very 
feet  of  the  plenipotentiaries  this  tragic  soil,  choked  with  the  dead,  will  yawn 
and  open  to  yield  up  the  spectres  of  the  Bull  Run  victims.  In  the  absence 
of  the  living,  the  dead  will  rise  to  protest  against  this  embrace  between  the 
ugressive  South  and  the  victimized  North. 

And  think  you  that  a  few  signatures  written  down  side  by  side  on  a  sheet 
of  paper,  will  suilico  to  efface  the  recollection  of  this  terrible  slaughter.  No, 
these  reminiscences  will  remain  written  upon  men's  hearts  in  hitters  ot  fire 
and  blood,  and  the  widows  in  the  most  distant  villages  of  the  West  will  wa 
ter  them  with  their  tears  by  their  firesides  and  at  their  work. 

North  and  South,  you  will  ever  regard  each  other  with  an  angry  eye.  At 
the  first  opportunity  you  will  break  out  again  ;  there  will  be  another  slaugh 
ter-house  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  the  new  world  will  have  nothing  to 
envy  the  old.  Henceforward  you  must  go  armed  and  each  keep  up  an  army 
of  four  hundred  thousand  soldiers.  You  will  attempt  to  avoid  a  momentary 
expense  by  a  patched-up  peace  and  before  the  end  of  the  century  your  na 
tional  debt  will  have  reached  two  hundred  or  three  hundred  thousand  mil 
lions.  This  is  the  ordinary  cost  of  an  army  during  one  generation.  If  you 
doubt  it  inquire  of  Austria. 

The  day  that  a  pcrmiwient  army  shall  exist  in  North  America,  you  may 
bid  adieu  to  liberty,  a«  it  has  been  accepted  and  practised  hitherto.  'With 
the  danger  of  foreign  war  will  come  the  doctrine  ot  public  safety,  and 
governments  will  be  made  and  unmade  with  the  .bayonet,  as  in  Buenos- 
Awes.  I  cannot  see  how  the  commerce  of  Europe  is  to  profit  by  tin.-. 


—  18  — 


XIII. 

Should  Europe,  however,  entertain  the  unfortunate  idea  of  creating  with 
her  own  hand,  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  a  cotton  republic,  a  black  state  founded  . 
upon  slavery,  such  a  rash  act  would  inflict  upon  the  world  an  element  of 
perturbation  and  a  scourge  more  terrible  than  the  cholera.  Once  master  of 
its  own  movements,  this  pro-slavery  government,  this  despicable  and  ac 
cursed  political  monstrosity,  repulsive  to  the  entire  world,  would  speedily 
bid  defiance  to  everything,  aggravating  in  order  to  diminish  the  horror  of 
its  crime,  and  would  become  so  powerful  that  it  would  finally  command 
respect. 

It  would  not  be  as  in  the  past  a  disgraceful  underhand  attack  upon 
Texas  or  Cuba  ;  it  would  bo  piracy  exercised  on  a  grand  scale  in  order  to 
render  slavery  universal.  The  slave  trade  would  be  carried  on  for  reasons 
of  state,  and  carried  on  in  a  royal  manner  by  squadrons  of  vessels.  From 
that  day  the  negro  would  eternally  wear  the  mourning  of  civilization  upon 
his  brow. 

But,  whatever  may  happen,  I  hope  that  France,  the  offspring  of  revolu 
tion,  will  never  lend  a  hand  to  such  an  anachronism,  and  oi*c  so  inconsistent 
with  her  past  Ir'story  ;  did  not  the  French  revolution  inaugurate  negro 
emancipation  and  first  grant  the  black  the  right  of  citizenship  ?  And  as 
one  reminiscence  calls  up  .others,  I  beg  leave  to  mention  here  an  incident  ot 
the  present  time,  although  it  is  already  FO  distant  that  it  seems  like  the 
past. 

It  was  in  February.  Revolution  was  everywhere  at  work,  and  through 
out  Europe  every  instant  a  <resh  explosion  announced  the  fall  of  another 
kingdom.  All  Paris  was  on  foot  •,  the  streets  were  alive  ;  and  clouds  of 
smoke  iloated  HI  the  air.  The  wind  was  laden  with  words  as  though  an  in 
visible  spirit  spoke  in  the  mist.  The  crowd  marched  restlessly  and  excited 
ly  from  street  to  street  with  colors  flying  and  drums  beating,  parading 
their  chimera  and  their  hope  ;  their  truth  or  their  dream. 

But  above  this  ugitated,  swaying  sea  of  humanity,  abovo  its" uproar  and 
'tumult,  in  the  calm  region  of  high  inspirations  and  sacred  desires,  the  new 
republic,  serene  and  holy,  looked  mentally  beyond  the  sea.  Full  of  the 
love  oi:  human  dignity  and  every  where  present  where  there  was  a  wound 
to  heal,  tlie  new  republic  drew  up  the  decree  abolishing  slavery,  and  the 
eleven  members  of  the  provisional  government  signed  it.  When  the  last 
signer  laid  down  his  pen  they  threw  themselves  into  each  other's  arms  and 
embraced  with  all  the  joy  of  the  workmen  of  humanity  after  doing  a  good 
act. 

Ah  1  the  men,  whoever  they  were,  who  signed  that  decree  may  be  forgot 
ten  now,  but  their  short  term  of  power  was  not  spent  in  vain.  Had  a 
king  signed  it,  such  a  decree  would  have  sufficed  to  make  his  reign  glori 
ous  The  provisional  government  were  not  even  allowed  the  credit  of  it. 
Serve  humanity  and  such  will  bo  your  reward  !  But  the  good  was  ac 
complished  and  it  remains.  The  divine  spirit  has  also  its  day  in  our  coun 
try,  and  if  this  day  is  drawing  to  its  close,  there  arc  at  least  others  beyond 
the  ocean  to  whom  the  last  revolution  has  given  Jthe  right  to  shout  for 
Liberty  ! 

This,  Sire,  is  what  I  had  to  say  to  Your  Majesty.  1  have  finished  ;  but 
lot  me  give  you  a  parting  word  of  advice.  I  will  not  appeal  to  your  heart, 
for  that  would  be  speaking  to  the  absent  :  I  will  appeal  simply  to  your 
then  I  may  have  some  chance  of  fixing  your  attention. 


-19  — 

Believe  me  and  tompt  destiny  no  longer.  Remember  the  example  ef  the 
French  nobility.  They  left  the* soil  rather  than  submit  to  common  law,  and 
the  soil  passed  frem  them  into  the  hands  of  a  class  sprung  from  revolution 
and  identified  with  liberty.  Since  that  day  the  French  nation  has  formed 
one  family.  I  leave  you  to  meditate,  Sire,  upon  this  lesson  of  history. 

,How  many  vassals  have  you  in  reality  ?  Scarcely  a  hundred  thousand. 
These  alone  are  guilty  of  the  insurrection.  All  that  will  be  necessary  will 
be  to  turn  their  plantations  into  money  and  introduce  the  population  of 
the  West  into  this  regenerated  section.  This  is  the  way  to  solve  the  sla 
very  question  and  efl'ect  the  reconciliation  of  the  South.  And  now,  Sire,  I 
pray  G'od  to  have  you  in  his  keeping,  to  correct,  you  and  incline  you  to 
ward  repentance.  Amend,  Sire,  otherwise  one  may  soon  see  in  Paris  a 
ragged  old  man  asking  the  police  for  a  passport  in  order  to  follow  the 
Duke  of  Modcna  to  Venice.  That  old  man  will  be  King  Cotton. 


THE  END.         :-. 
< 


Meajager  Franco- Am  e^icam  Printing  Office,  51,  Liberty  street,  New  York. 


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Pelletan,  E.  Pl|6 

An  address  to  King 
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